Greenville Scene

by: Michelle Hannon

Band Members: Doug Jones - vocals, guitar; Jimbo Chapman - guitar; Rick Reames - (original drummer); JJ Bowers - (original bassist); Rob Clay - bass; Gary Greene - drums; Chad Barger - keyboard.

Is Cravin’ Melon still together? When were you first active?
Doug Jones: 1993 - 2001. CM is about to get together for some reunion shows in ‘08.

What do you view as your greatest accomplishment as Cravin’ Melon?
DJ: Cravin’ Melon formed in 1993, at Clemson University and stopped playing in early 2001. During that time, we made five records, two of those on Mercury Records, and toured nonstop. SC Entertainers of the Year in 1997 was just one of many accomplishments and ranks right up there with being signed to a major label. Also, just being able to play to sell out crowds throughout the Southeast for a majority of that time, and receiving opportunities to open for numerous major national acts was quite an experience. Radio, especially in the Southeast, but also pockets across the country were very good to us and aided in the sale of several hundred thousand units of all our records combined.

Why did the band break up? What are you doing now? (You and other members.)
DJ: After the band’s break in 2001, simply due to the harsh reality of the music business and blending that with somewhat of a normal home life, CM has pretty much stayed out of sight other than some acoustic performances by myself and Jimbo Chapman. Of the original band, I (Doug Jones) am still playing and writing music and have just released my first solo record, Doug Jones Everybody, Doug Jones. Guitarist Chapman also plays around the upstate where he lives with his family. Drummer Rick Reames and family live in the area where he works and still plays music as well. Bassist JJ Bowers has been in the real estate business since his departure in ’97, and lives in the Greenville area. Rob Clay, who replaced Bowers, is still playing music and working in the Triangle area of North Carolina. Gary Greene, who replaced Reames in the late 90’s, is also the percussionist for Hootie and the Blowfish and played drums on my new record. Chad Barger, who played keyboards for the Melon, still plays and works in North Carolina. Myself, Chapman, Clay, Greene, and Barger will be getting back together in ’08 to relive some of the glory days and hopefully bring back together our friends and fans across the Southeast. More info will be made available as the dates solidify. You can also find out about my new release by checking out, (myspace.com/dougjoneseverybodydougjones).

How has Greenville’s music scene changed since Cravin’ Melon started?
DJ: As far as Greenville’s music scene, there are more musicians, writers, studios, and venues than ever, unfortunately many feel like they have to leave the area in order to be appreciated. All we can do is keep doing what we’re doing and set an example to the young folks who may be drawn to a music career. The internet is wonderful if you know how to use it and great radio stations like WNCW are gems in a world of computerized, mass marketed programming.

www.myspace.com/cravinmelon

Catch Doug Jones performing live at The Handlebar December 12th @ 8:30pm. The show also features Danielle Howle, Mac Leaphart, and Valerie Miller. The show costs $8/ $10 under 21.

Band Name: Before Normandy

Band Members/Instruments: Mikey Carvajal- Vocals, Eric Frazier- Drums, Andrew Murphy- Guitar

How long have you been together? 2 years.

What genre is your music? Punk/ Hardcore

Who are your main influences? Dillinger Escape Plan, Converge, Deftones, Refused, Zao…

What are you pursuing right now? We’re looking to get signed, record a full length cd, and tour as much as possible. We’re also looking for sponsorships and a full time bass player.

What has been your greatest accomplishment as Before Normandy? Our greatest accomplishment so far is getting to perform with some of our favorite bands like Flyleaf, The Chariot, and August Burns Red.

Do you have an album for sale? No, but we have a demo, which you can hear on our myspace.

Any shows coming up? As of right now we don’t have any shows lined up, but we’re going to Atlanta in January to record with Fidelity Entertainment. We’re also going to play a live set on Clemson radio Dec 5.

Contact? Our website is myspace.com/beforenormandy. We do all of the booking through our myspace.

Nile

by: Keith Groover

If you haven’t checked out part one of this series, you can find it here. Lots of rap in this one, very little of it good. The two highest ranked ones (Coste y Dre and Double Ace Squad) are in Spanish. Much of the rap from the others is well produced, just not very creative. On the other side, a lot of the rock is creative and well written, but not very well produced. It would be interesting to see some of the rock acts go to some of the local rap acts for production and collaboration; I think some great stuff could come out of that.

Again, here’s the rough key of my grading system:

10 - Perfect.
9 - Excellent. I strongly recommend, even to people who don’t like the genre.
8 - Really good, with excellent production, songwriting, and performance. Definitely check these guys out.
7 - Solid, stuff that I liked, but not quite as good as the eights
6 - Well done, but with some untapped potential
5 - Decent, but on the high side of amateur
4 - Possibilities exist to be good, but they aren’t readily apparent
3 - Nothing much going on
2 - Bad
1 - Bad, but worse

Feel free to leave a comment here or in the forum if you think I’ve treated a band unfairly (or maybe too generously.) I only reviewed one song per band, so if that particular song doesn’t demonstrate the band’s abilities, let me know and I’ll re-review it.

Here It Is…

MySpace Challenge Pt. II

It’s been pretty quiet around here lately, so I thought I’d break the silence by saying how freaking awesome the new Radiohead album is. If you haven’t already downloaded it, please go to the radiohead website now. This is definitely one of their best. If for some reason you haven’t heard, they’re taking donations for the download. Now you have no excuse. After you do that, go here and get yourself a subscription to Paste Magazine for as little as a dollar. I don’t know about you but, this “pay what you want” scheme is working out great for me.